Play-Based Education Network Tinkergarten Gets Support from Omidyar

Forget flashcards, tutoring and academic preschool, say the founders of Tinkergarten Inc.
The startup facilitates a network of instructors who use its outdoor play-based curriculum to lead classes for young children in parks. Activities include making petal potions, building with a bundle of sticks and creating paint out of berries and earth.

The company, not a typical pure-software venture-capital deal, just raised $1.6 million in a seed round led by Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm from Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay Inc., VentureWire has learned.